Passengers from virus-infected cruise ship arrive at airport

Passengers from an Australian cruise ship stranded off the coast of Uruguay for two weeks with more than 100 novel coronavirus infections on board arrived at Montevideo's international airport Friday.

Following an agreement between the governments of Uruguay and Australia, about 110 passengers from the Greg Mortimer are due to board a medically equipped Airbus A350 plane to take them to Melbourne and bring to an end weeks of virus nightmare.

The Australians and New Zealanders were taken along a "sanitary corridor" from Montevideo's port to its international airport after the ship was finally allowed to dock following two weeks anchored in the Rio de la Plata, around 20 kilometers off the Uruguayan coast.

"Everything (is going) as planned," Uruguay's Defense Minister Javier Garcia told reporters as he awaited the passengers' arrival at the Carrasco airport.

Australia's Foreign Minister Marise Payne tweeted her thanks to her Uruguayan counterpart Ernesto Talvi "for your sincere assistance in recent times to ensure the (Australian) passengers have been able to head home."